The present invention relates generally to a system and method for processing fresh corn and in particular to a self-contained mobile processing plant for processing fresh corn in proximity to the field in which it is grown.
In the prior art, fresh ears of corn have been typically processed by harvesting the corn in the field with standard prior art corn strippers and then transporting corn to central canneries where the corn is processed and packaged as cobs or where fresh corn kernels are cut from the cob and packaged.
The desired portion of the fresh corn, the kernels, comprise approximately 25% to 30% by weight of the total fresh corn harvested in the field. The waste portion, the shucks and cobs, comprise approximately 70% of the weight. Because conventional canneries may be many miles from the field in which the corn is grown, the unprocessed raw corn must be transported from the field to the cannery. As a result, 70 to 75 percent (when processing only the corn kernels) of the hauling charges incurred are attributable to the transportation costs of the waste cobs and shucks. Moreover, additional hauling charges will be incurred for transporting the waste away from the cannery.
Additionally, there are numerous canneries located in agricultural areas that are capable of freezing and/or canning fresh produce; however, there are substantially fewer canneries that contain equipment that is capable of husking, slicing cobs and cutting the kernels corn from the cob. Transportation expenses and the need to minimize transport time restrict the potential growing area for fresh green corn to geographic areas in general proximity to canneries with husking, slicing and cutting capabilities.
The present invention provides an efficient means to process corn at the harvest site in preparation for packaging, to reduce the costs associated with transporting the corn to a cannery and to expand the potential growing areas for fresh green corn.
The present invention comprises a self-contained mobile fresh corn processing system that may be transported in proximity to the field in which the corn is grown. In the present invention, raw ears of unhusked corn are received by a hopper which continuously feeds the ears of corn into a first processing trailer. The first processing trailer holds the ears and disburses them onto a first conveyer. The first conveyer feeds the raw ears of corn into a husker where the corn husks and silks are removed. The ears are then transported via a conveyer to a second trailer for further processing.
Upon entrance to the second trailer, the corn ears can be selectively separated into two groups. The first group of ears can be directed to a mechanism to slice the cobs into xe2x80x9cminixe2x80x9d cobs for packaging xe2x80x9ccorn-on-the-cobxe2x80x9d while the second group of ears can be directed to cutting mechanisms to remove the corn kernels from the cobs. The slicing and cutting functions can be performed simultaneously or separately, depending on the product demand. Further, the step of selectively separating the cobs into multiple groups can be manually or automatically performed. The corn husks, silk, cob and stalks are removed from the first and second trailers to a trash trailer by a series of trash conveyer belts. These trash particles can be used for fertilizer or stored as silage.
The sliced or mini-cobs are transported via a conveyer from the second processing trailer to transportation totes where the cobs are transported to a cannery for packaging. The cut kernels are cleaned and chilled in a third processing trailer and finally directed to transportation totes for delivery to a cannery for packaging.
The present system presents advantages over conventional systems because the geographic growing area for fresh corn is substantially expanded. In the present invention, the husking, cutting and slicing functions are accomplished in proximity to the field in which the corn is grown; therefore, conventional canneries may be used for final processing of the output product from the present invention. As noted in the background section, there are numerous canning facilities located in agricultural areas; however, only a limited number of those include the capability for husking, cutting kernels, and slicing cobs. By expanding the number of canneries capable of processing the corn, the area for growing fresh corn is increased.